Dahlia had been playing when it appeared. It came from the cellar. Dad and mom always said to never go in the cellar, because the shadows there wanted to eat people. Dahlia never believed it, but she never went anyway. She'd much rather go outside and play with Toto than go in the creepy cellar. Toto is the son of the neighbor, he's a bit older than Dahlia but he still is very nice. Dahlia was six this year, she knew because she just learned how to count with her daddy. Toto was ten and two. She liked playing jacks with him. Sometimes, he would show her some magic, making her toys levitate.
That's why Dahlia is very sad now. She liked Toto very much, so when she saw red water fall from his head, she got very scared. The monster was very scary as well. It looked like a big man made of rock but with spikes everywhere. He broke the trapdoor of the cellar, hurting Dahlia in the process with small pieces of wood and stones. Toto protected her with his body, shooting stones back at the monster, but it barely scratched it.
It still managed to anger him though, and he broke down Dahlia's house on top of their head. Toto had protected her with a reassuring gaze. Now, her friend was lying there, a wooden beam passing through his head, the rest of his body hidden under the rubble. She could barely even see him with the little light that passed through the debris. One of his eyes was dangling weirdly on his cheek, and he wasn't making any sound. There was red flowing everywhere from Toto's head. Dahlia didn't like it.
"T...Toto?" Dahlia weakly asked, holding her fingers toward her friend. Why wasn't he answering?
Dahlia had a hard time to breath, and her right leg was hurting very much. Her mommy always said she shouldn't cry in front of boys, so she was doing her best not to. But it was very hard, her leg was very painful and it was very scary. She had a hard time breathing since earlier, and she had a hard time seeing as well. The rubbles on top of her were miraculously not falling on her. She thinks it's thanks to Toto. Why didn't Toto protect himself as well?
Dahlia turned slightly, looking at her leg. It was all red, like the face of Toto. She didn't like it. Dahlia wanted to scream for help but she didn't want the mean monster to come back. So she held her cries in, her tears still welling inside her eyes. She couldn't even feel her toes anymore. It felt awful...
"I want my mommy..." She sniffled. She suddenly heard a muffled voice. Someone was talking from outside the rubble of her house. Was...Was it the rescue team? No! They needed to get away! They're going to get beat up by the monster as well! But...but Dahlia couldn't scream, or the monster would come for her. What should she do?
"Who was the one in charge of this district?" The first voice was one of a male adult. He sounded annoyed and angry, but most of all, his voice felt really cold, like...steel. Dahlia felt a bit scared when she heard it.
"C...Cleaner Blorg, Sir!" The second voice was also a male adult, but he sounded scared as well. His voice was shaking a little, and didn't seem very confident. She didn't think this man could help her.
"Fucking hell, this guy again? How many times did I clean up behind this piece of shit, already?" The first voice complained angrily before a bit of the rubble moved above her. This one seemed much better, even if he was a little scary.
"Uhm...That would be the fifth time, Sir." The second voice explained warily.
"..." A heavy sigh came from the first voice.
"I...I'm sorry, Sir. I'll be sure to report his inadequacy."
"Sure, do that. Any witnesses?"
"Yes, Sir. Apparently, it's a single golem with gravitational powers."
"Gravitational powers? How fun."
"Should I call for backup, Sir?"
"Don't bother. And I already told you to stop calling me Sir. Makes me feel like a noble."
"I'm sorry, S...Fixer."
Dahlia's eyes widened, and her mouth opened slightly. Her daddy told her that the Fixers were very strong people, who made a living by taking care of monsters or fixing peculiar problems. Yes, if it's a Fixer he would be able to beat the mean monster!
"H...Help!" She said weakly. Her voice was quiet, barely audible. The rubble above her stopped moving.
"...Did you hear this?" The first voice asked.
"Hear what?" The second voice answered, confused.
"Didn't you say the inhabitants had been warned?"
"...That's what Sir Blorg told me he did."
"...For fuck's sake..."
The rubble around Dahlia began moving strangely. They were shaking, as if they were scared. But Dahlia was smart, she knew rocks couldn't be scared. The pressure on her leg suddenly lessened, and the light was shed in her little space. The rubble all around her rose above the ground, giving her some breathing space.
"Shit, there's a child there!" The first voice yelled, before running toward her. Dahlia felt dizzy, so she closed her eyes. She was relieved, someone had finally come to rescue Toto and her.
"Hey, kid, don't close your eyes!" The man who came to help her yelled again. It was loud in her ears. They were ringing, as if someone slapped her very hard in her ear. She winced, trying to block the sounds away. Her shoulders shook, grabbed by something. The man's hand?
"Holy f... Mundare." Her leg suddenly felt less...dirty, somehow? It seemed like the man with the first voice was very shocked. Does that mean her leg looked very bad? She only saw red everywhere.
She closed her eyes, exhausted. The pain was too much, she couldn't help it. This was surely just a bad dream anyway. She'll play with Toto when she'll wake up, she's sure.
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A young man dressed in a sleeveless black vest, and a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves just under it, was standing on top of the rubble. He had black hair, with a white strand lost in it, tied in a messy ponytail, arriving under his shoulders. The skin of his left arm was completely purple, and he had two black leather gloves. Arcane, blue particles turned around him as they held the debris in the air.
"Shit, there is a child there!" He yelled, looking back at his assistant, who paled at these words. The skinny man quickly ran away to fetch help.
'Oh my...' A voice with a sad tone echoed in the young man's mind, making him scowl in anger.
Glenn jumped down and took a knee beside the little girl who had her right leg crushed. She was pale like chalk, and her movements were extremely slow and weak. Her torso was barely rising each time she struggled to take a breath. The young man barely spared a glance at the dead boy on his right. He couldn't bother with the dead when he still had a chance to save the living.
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The young could almost see the child dying in front of him. Gritting his teeth, he shook her shoulder, trying to keep her awake.
"Hey, kid, don't close your eyes!" He yelled desperately. Glenn turned his gaze toward the leg, seeing that the piece of rubble that was crushing it previously had cut exactly on her knee. There was barely any flesh attaching her leg to her thigh.
"Holy f...Mundare." He had to at least clean the wound. The young man reached with his right hand into his dimensional pouch, taking out a big vial filled with a red liquid. The container could have never fit in the pouch normally, being several times its size, but well, it wasn't a normal pouch. With his other hand, he summoned a hand axe, cutting the leg off without hesitation. The kid was unconscious, so it was better done than never. His heart ached because of what he had just done, but he didn't have the time to feel bad.
Glenn quickly uncapped the vial, pouring the red liquid down on the wound.
"Come on, come on..." He muttered, his eyes fixed on the wound. Flesh tendrils from every part of the wound began to intertwine with each other, blocking the flow of blood. It wasn't going to make the leg grow back, but it will have to do for now. The most important thing was to stop the hemorrhage and make the kid survive. Leg or not, it would do no good for her if she was dead. The wound finally healed itself, Glenn sighing in relief. He checked her pulse, his lips rising slightly when he found one weak beating.
'Good job,' Diamanes complimented, his voice lacking any kind of sarcastic characteristic.
Glenn quickly cast a Cleaning Touch on his clothes to get rid of any blood that had tainted them, before carefully picking the girl up. He threw a sad look at the other dead youngling and shook his head. It was too late for him. This time, he was going to get the head of this damned Blorg or whatever his name was.
He carried the girl outside of the rubbles. The ground began to shake slightly, but he didn't care. Once he was out of the ruined house, the pieces of wood and stones floating in the air crashed back down. Glenn gently placed the kid against a nearby tree, ignoring the tremors coming from behind him. He made sure she wouldn't fall on her head or anything, before turning back towards the house. He took a few steps forward while raising his hand in the air. He flicked his fingers together, and a bubble of blue Mana appeared around the girl, forming a solid protective wall around her.
Under the rubbles, an enormous figure raised itself, barely humanoid. It made the debris above his body fall as he stood up, towering over the young man. Standing on two huge legs, the house-sized monster stared down at the ant who wanted to challenge him. A single eye, a purple amethyst the size of a car, was embedded in its head, perfectly in the center of the dirt mass.
Glenn, his hands in his pockets, managed somehow from his little stature to look down at the creature. It had the effect of angering him greatly, and the giant golem silently punched downward. He was going to crush this insolent ant–
A dull sound rang in the air as his arm fell to the ground. The golem's big, purple jewel which served as a means to see, stared into the eyes of the ant, bewildered. He only saw coldness, and rage, and felt for the first time since its creation a new emotion: fear.
Glenn held out his left arm, before discharging the spell contained in it, aiming for the golem's core. A second later, the head of the creature disappeared in a white flash, his body following in a crumbling defeat. Dirt fell everywhere as it was no longer maintained by the power of the jewel.
'Well, you didn't take your time with this one,' Diamanes whistled, amused.
'It wasn't worth making me take my time. Honestly, it wasn't even worth using one of his charges, but it angered me,' Glenn replied in his mind, looking at the remains of the powerful golem, 'And I didn't want it to use his gravitational powers. He already destroyed enough'. The young man went back into the ruins of the house, the rubble pushing itself out of the way when he was walking. He finally arrived in front of the corpse of the other kid. There was a trace of Mana lingering around his body.
"A spell? Looks like a shield...Seems like he got crushed anyway..." Glenn noticed, muttering as he took the body out of the ruins. He carried it out of the ruin, laying it down on the ground near it. He gritted his teeth and shook his head. The young man took out a long, thin blanket from his dimensional pouch, using it to hide the body from any inquisitive sight.
He then took a look at the golem remains. There were a few shards of amethyst planted on the ground that survived his attack. He bent a knee in front of one, slipped on a glove, and picked up the shard. He slipped it in his pouch, safely stashing it away. He repeated the process until no more shards were lying on the ground. His labor done, Glenn stretched his body, a tired expression on his face. He looked in the distance, looking at the Northern Town from atop the ruins. The sun was still high in the sky, shining light everywhere.
Help finally arrived, in the form of Astrid Di Forte, the priestess from Onnea's Church, and his assistant from the Cleaner's Workshop, Kevin. He scowled at the look of the skinny man. If this spineless bastard wasn't useful he would have already kicked his ass away. The priestess rushed to the little girl's side, using her hands to apply a golden light on her body.
Kevin stared at the crumbled pieces of the golems with a curious gaze, before getting closer to Glenn. The man, as previously mentioned, was skinny. He was wearing a white suit with a red cross pattern, as usual for the Workshop personnel. He had glasses that he always pushed back up his nose, and scared, mouse eyes hidden under a thick unibrow. His blond hair was arranged in a mess on his head, more similar to a bird's nest than to an actual hairstyle. The man was in his thirties but still behaved in a scared way when interacting with Glenn. He was holding some kind of checklist under his right arm, which he often took a look at.
"Good job taking care of the problem, S...Fixer." Kevin quickly fixed his words after receiving Glenn's gaze. He took a look at his checklist, pushing his glasses up.
"What do you have for me, Kevin?" The young man asked, sighing loudly.
The assistant didn't make himself wait and quickly answered.
"You still have the rift on the Butcher's Street, as well as a Corrupted hiding near Rampart Street. There is also a rumor of a ghost on Central Square, so HQ would like it if you could check up on that. There aren't many people with your..." He stared at Glenn's purple arm, his pupils trembling slightly, "...Special skills, Sir."
The young man shook his head, giving up on stopping his assistant from calling him sir. He'll just have to get used to it like he just got used to everything else in this last year. Looking back, he did quite a bit during that year. He advanced to True Initiate, took care of this matter with Diamanes, became a Black Gold Fixer who even had a personal assistant, and also made new friends. Kind of. More like comrades. The most important thing was that he had made enough money to ascend to the Bourgeoisie at any moment, alongside the other bastard.
Glenn wondered how the Black Heir was doing. Was it three or four months since the last time they saw each other? Whatever, that guy knew how to take care of himself. The young man turned toward Kevin, taking a small flask out of his dimensional pouch.
"Are all of those particularly urgent, or I can take a break?" The young man took a sip of his flask, the tasteful cider inside it quenching his thirst. It wasn't as good as...what he used to drink so long ago, but it did the trick.
"Well, besides the matter with the Corrupted, all of those can wait for at least a day. And, from what I heard, that entity only manifests during the night, so you technically are clear until the sunset," Kevin quickly explained, his glasses slipping down on his nose slowly.
Glenn nodded, putting the flask back in his pouch. He threw a quick look at the priestess and the girl to see how they were doing and saw that Astrid was done with her treatment.
"You're free until tonight. Rest up, I'll need you to take care of the aftermath after I get done with the Corrupted." Glenn dismissed his assistant, whose eyes suddenly shone with appreciation. Kevin bowed slightly, catching awkwardly his falling glasses, before disappearing in the meanders of the Northern Town's streets.
Glenn walked to the priestess while looking at the unconscious girl.
"How is she doing?" He asked in a low voice, not wanting to wake the victim up.
"She'll be fine. Her leg is another issue though." The priestess answered, not looking away from her patient. She sighed loudly, before stroking slowly the girl's hair. She then finally cast a look at her interlocutor, her worried eyes staring at him.
"And you?"
"He didn't even touch me." Glenn shrugged, dismissing her worries with a wave of his hand.
'Is it me or success is getting to your head?' Diamanes asked mockingly, his tone barely inquisitive. The young man ignored him, instead focusing on the young lady.
"Good then..." The priestess stood up, before heading for the shade of another tree, a bit further away from the sleeping kid. She leaned against the tree, lost in her thoughts. Glenn decided to leave her alone and instead jumped into another of the few oak trees present in the streets of the Northern Town. He quickly made himself comfortable, his legs on a thick branch and his back against the trunk. He sat in the lotus position, falling into a state of Meditation.
Indeed, a lot happened in a year. Maybe it was time to look back on it.